White House Budget Proposal Seeks New Line for Transnational Organized Crime Investigations

As the U.S. government budget faces cuts across agencies, one area that will actually grow is the fight against transnational organized crime, according to the Obama administration’s new budget proposal.

The money would finance the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center, established in 2009 as a central node for intelligence agencies to collaborate against transnational organized crime groups operating in the U.S.

Obama’s administration asked for US$ 2 billion more for the Justice Department, bringing the total request to US$36.5 billion.

Officials from the Departments of the Treasury and Justice testified last week that organized crime groups have been ever more successful at exploiting legal loopholes to launder money from drug and weapons trafficking to the tune of billions of dollars. Jennifer Shasky, head of the Justice Department’s Money Laundering unit, said drug traffickers alone launder an estimated US$85 billion.